express my gratitude and thankfulness to God for my my parents. God has given me the most wonderful parents in the world and I don't know of anyone who's been a greater impact or influence by far on my life, in my ministry, my preaching than my father. He's the godliest man I know. He's the most sincere man I know. He's the best preacher I know. My father made such a huge impact upon my life even when I was upset with him at times when I was a kid. My dad is a man who prays and when he prays, even his quiet private prayers are not private. He prays aloud. You can hear what he's praying when he's by himself praying. Not just once, not just twice, but constantly I'd get up in the middle of night and there was my father on his knees. On his knees, not just sitting in the chair, but on his knees. And you could hear, I could hear what he's praying for. And not knowing that I was listening, I could hear him pray for my brothers and me. Pleading to the Lord for our salvation. That, without his knowledge of me listening, that made the biggest impact upon my life. And so I, with gratitude in my heart, I am thankful for him, my sweet mother, his wife, And I'm thankful that he's here. It was difficult for him to come. My grandfather, my dad's dad, is living out his last days, and my dad is caring for him. And it's hard for him to break away, but he broke away for this. So I'm deeply thankful for you, dad, for coming. And so I know that God's given you a word, and let's listen with the ears to hear. I'm so unworthy of those words that your pastor has shared. I'm thankful that the hand of God is upon him. And he has been faithful to walk in the way of the Lord, follow the truth of God for his own life. Every one of us have a calling and a life that we have to live out. And I'm grateful to see my... I have no greater joy than to see my sons walking in the truth. No greater joy. What could compare to that? To have sons and daughters that fear the Lord, that walk with the Lord. So I'm grateful to be here tonight. I'm thankful. Turn with me. I'm going to read one of the most merciful passages in the New Testament. Turn with me to the Gospel of Luke 13. Beginning at verse 23. Forgive me, I'm reading in the Old King James. Translation. Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And here the Lord doesn't say yes, or he doesn't say no. He says, listen to what I say. It's not our business how many people the Lord saves, but it is our business that He saves me. I must be right with God. Lord, are there few that be saved? And He said unto them, to enter in at the straight gate, the narrow gate. Strive. Spend yourself to the limit. Strive has the meaning of a runner that is running in a race and he maybe is in second or third place and he spends the limit of his energy to finish and to win. And Jesus says, and he applies this term to our salvation, you cannot take a half-hearted attitude toward your own salvation. It's got to be top priority. And you've got to give it more than just a little interest, a little energy, strive to enter in at the straight gate for many. Now here he could be answering the question. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. They'll want in, but they won't be let in. They'll want to be saved, but they will be lost. They'll want to go to heaven, but they'll be cast out into hell And it won't be just a few. Our Lord says it will be many multitudes. But he says to us, strive to enter in at the straight gate. For many, I say to you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master of the house is risen up, and has shut the door. The door's going to be shut. It's open, but it's not going to be open forever. And it's not going to be open in your life forever. There's a window of opportunity you have to come to know the Lord, to repent of your sins, to be right with God. And if you don't enter in when you hear that voice, today if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart. For when once the master of the house is risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside without and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. And he shall answer in saying to you, I know you not whence you are. I don't even know where you're from. I don't know you and it doesn't matter where you're from. It doesn't matter who your mother or father was. I don't know you. I know you not. Then shall you begin to say, we have eaten and drunk in thy presence and thou has taught in our streets But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence you are. Same thing repeated. The story doesn't change. The judgment doesn't change. The verdict doesn't change. Pleading doesn't change it. Earnestness doesn't change it. Passion doesn't change it at this time. Twice. I never knew you. I know you not whence you are. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Weeping? Gnashing of teeth? The greatest expression of consternation? Terror? When you shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out, and they shall come from the east and from the west and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God, and behold, There are last which shall be first, and there are first which shall be last. Let's pray. Father, we have cast ourselves upon thee, and it's our desire, Lord, that you awaken our souls to hear these words. Give us ears to hear, and Father, It would be a great blessing if you would reveal yourself to someone who thinks they're going to heaven, but are not. And you would touch them this evening, and you would bring them and draw them to true faith, true repentance, true forsaking of sin, true striving to enter in, true devotion, true dedication, true knowledge, relationship with Thee, O Lord. That is our prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. Knowing the gospel and obeying the gospel are in two separate categories. You can know the gospel in a most detailed way and yet not really obey the gospel. The gospel is not just an intellectual message to be received, it is a moral message to be obeyed. It is obedience to Christ that will save us. It is not just knowledge. The best Orthodox, Lord, Lord, open unto us. On that day, will not save us until we are genuinely obedient to the Lord Jesus Christ and know Him. And for Him to be real in our lives, for us to be in relationship with the living God is not just an option. It's a demand, it's a must with the Lord. We must know the Lord, we must be genuinely obedient to the revealed will of God. Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter in the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father in heaven. Now there's some doing of the will of God involved in your salvation. Do you do the will of God? And the will of God, my friends, is not something that's just a puff in the air. The will of God will consume you. The will of God will be quite extensive in your life. It will touch your most secret thoughts, as well as your most visible behavior. I want to speak on this subject, what it's like to find out you're lost on that final day and that you're going to hell when you thought you were going to heaven. Can there be such a thing? Could it be that there is this phenomena that all along I was a member of the church, I knew the doctrines, I had memorized large portions of scripture, but I didn't obey the Lord really, and I didn't ever forsake my sins, and I didn't really deny myself, and I didn't really give myself to striving to do the will of God. Let me ask you a few questions. What's the biggest disappointment you have ever experienced? The biggest disappointment. that you've experienced. For you women who've been married, have you ever had a miscarriage? That's a big disappointment to a woman who wants to have a child and that child miscarries and is lost before birth. How about A big disappointment. You older folks here have a grown child that utterly disappoints you. A heartbreaking child that's an adult but has utterly disappointed you in the way his life has gone. Maybe you've gone through a divorce. Some in our small congregation have gone through a divorce, and I've heard people who've gone through a divorce say, I would rather have died than experience this. It's like a death. Such a disappointment to have a failed marriage. Maybe you have been fired. Maybe you thought you were a good employer, employee, worker, hard worker, and yet one day you got your, pink slip, you got your notice that you're let go, you're fired. What? What a disappointment. Maybe your biggest disappointment, I know this is not a small one, maybe you've had a preacher on a pedestal and then that preacher has utterly disappointed you. He's fallen tragically into some terrible sin. That is not Rare is it you've heard of this, maybe you know, and it's been an utterly disappointment in your life. Now you can take all of these disappointments and combine them together as far as the shocking, disappointing, disillusioning experience those may be. But Christ tells us in this merciful passage that the illusion exists in many people. that they are sure for heaven, that they're going to heaven when the very opposite is true. What a shock it will be on that great day. What a terror it will be. What a weeping and gnashing of teeth will come forth on that day for, you mean I'm not getting in? You mean Heaven has denied me? Well I thought I was saved. I was a faithful church member. What a shock. Now we know again that false assurance and easy believism is the common commodity of false prophets. We know that there's no shortage of milky preaching, shallow, false prophets preaching half-truths. We know that many, the last thing that they would tell you about being saved is what Jesus said, strive to enter in the narrow gate. That's what Jesus said, but how many people are led to believe that just maybe the shallowest of commitments, the most superficial acknowledgements is going to make things right between them and God. You've heard this many times in eras. Here a guy, here's a funeral taking place, and this fella, you know his life, you know he's lived like hell. He's lived in the bondage of iniquity and sin, and he was proud of it. And that, when he's rolled up before the congregation, the preacher preaches him right on into heaven. What a disgrace to the Almighty God. What a sham, what a lie, this error. Well, it is a fact that if you don't, listen, arrogant, many people will be lost through arrogant presumption that they're okay. But none will be lost with humility and earnestness of saying, Lord, is it I? What about me, Lord? Am I okay? So can you imagine this shock of having expectations, false expectations of enjoying the comforts of heaven. Here, you thought on earth, when I die, I'm going to go to heaven. I'm going to be with Jesus. I'm going to be with the saints. I'm going to enjoy the comforts of glory. And then find out, and find out that Jesus says, I never knew you. I reject you. I disown you. I don't even know where you are from. You hear those words from the Lord, and then instead of being taken into the comforts of heaven, you're cast away with all the other workers of iniquity, apart from me, you workers of iniquity, with all the other sinners, the servants of sin. And when this happens, if it does happen, And it will happen, Jesus says. There's not anything you can do about it then. If it does happen, that it happens to be said to you, depart from me, you curse it into everlasting fire, there's not anything you can do then about it. There'll be no returns. There'll be no living life over. There'll be no opportunities. You will not get a chance to rewind your life and do it over again. But things are not over right now. Today, they're not done yet. They're not over. There's something that can be done. Yet, by all of us, if we care to be honest before God, and honest with ourselves, and not deceived, if we care to examine ourselves, examine yourself whether you're in the faith, prove yourself, know you not that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobate. Know this area. Know it more than you know anything else about your life. Know for sure. Test yourself. Test yourself by the infallible standard of the words of Jesus Christ. So this is a hard passage, but it's a merciful portion of truth. And we ought to be glad that this is set before us right now. We ought to be glad that the Lord has set this before us because it is meant for each of us to search our hearts and to look into our souls. Yes, it will happen to many, but it doesn't have to happen to you if you'll obey the Lord. If you'll take a serious effort to want to be in and enter in through the narrow door of Jesus Christ, of his truth, by faith alone, and by obedience always. Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? obedience to the Lord. Well, the point here in this passage is that you will not be able to make corrections about your state in the world to come. But the world to come has not come yet. you're here in church tonight. I believe God has sent me to talk to you, someone, you tonight. And you, if you'll listen, you know who you are. That you've just been playing at this. There's been a lot of external things in your life. That's got the wool pulled over a few people's eyes, but you and the Lord know things are not right. That you're harboring sin and disobedience to the Lord. So the people in view in this passage were those people, Jesus says, who were eating and drinking and hearing and exposed to his teaching. eating and drinking with Him. Can you imagine eating and drinking a meal with Jesus Christ and then facing Him in judgment and then throwing you into hell? You mean I was that close to Jesus that I had a meal with Him? I ate with Him. And now I'm rejected by Him? No. Eating and drinking in His presence is not going to save anyone. until you eat His flesh and drink His blood, you're not going to be saved. It's so vital that you have Christ in you, that you know the Lord, that you be right with God through true repentance and through faith. So here we have people that were in close proximity to the truth. They heard the teachings of Jesus. They saw the miracles of Jesus, and yet they end up lost. So this word of warning, Jesus is not giving to atheists, agnostics, devil worshipers. He's not even talking, as it were, to people who know they are hell bound. and know that they are living like hell and they don't care. He's not talking to those people. He's talking to people who think that they're saved, think they're right, think they're ready, but they're not ready. They're not prepared. How do we break these classes? I have four classes of people that this applies to. This warning, this exhortation, this revelation of how it will be in the judgment. This is the Lord saying he's not guessing, he's not just saying it might be this way. He's saying this is how it's going to be. He said, strive to enter in the straight gate. For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in and shall not be able. When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door and saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not. which you are, the first application. The immediate application is for the Jews of Christ's day who did not think they needed to obey his message. They thought they were all right like they were because of their heritage. They had the temple, they had the law, they had circumcision. They had the prophets. They had the Old Testament. They had the scriptures. Here are the Jews. What a shocking word for these grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These Jews, these natural Jews that were so close in proximity to the Messiah, the Savior of the world, has come in the Lord Jesus. What a shocking word to these Jews. who were, as Jesus referred to them many times, that the sinners, the harlots and the publicans, they come But the 99 just persons which need no repentance, he was addressing the Jews, because that's exactly how they felt about their life. They did not need repentance. They did not need conversion. They did not need to be born again, these Jews. And think about how many of them I will go so far as to say that many of the Jews, some of the Jews at least, who had miracles wrought upon their body did not ever really come to follow the Lord. Do you remember those 10 lepers that Jesus cleansed? And only one of them returned to give glory to God. And he said, we're not 10 clans, where are the other nine? And he said to the one who had come back, who was, what was he, even a Jew? No, he was a Samaritan. And he said to the Samaritan, son, be of good cheer, your sins. forgiven. Now he didn't, the others didn't hear that. They had a miracle. But what I'm saying is this, think about the Jews that saw the miracles, heard Jesus in the flesh, listened to His sermons. Multitudes listened to the sermons of Jesus. They heard His command to repent, to turn, to believe. But they In their apathy and their pride, because they trusted in their genetics and their heritage and their history, they did not come to Jesus. They would not bow to Jesus. And they thought their own righteousness made them an exemption. to the offers of the Gospel that were given in Jesus Christ. Therefore they did not take his claims seriously. He came unto his own, and his own rejected him. They received him not. Now at the judgment, how many saw Jesus, what his face looked like, the color of his hair, the tone of his voice, enthusiasm and power of his preaching. They were all exposed to that, but now where are they? They never repented. They never really turned to the Lord, and now they're rejected. And what makes matters more galling for these children of Abraham. And John Baptist told them, God is able to raise up from these stones children to Abraham. Don't think that being a Jew is going to save you. John even preached the truth to them. It's not your religious heritage. It's not your It's not your physical genetic heritage that is going to impute righteousness that you need to stand before God. And here, they're not only here that he doesn't know them. He says in almost a way that, what? You don't even know where I'm at. I'm from Israel. I lived in Jerusalem. I was one of the high priests. I was one of the teachers of the law. I never knew you. Depart from me, you that work as iniquity." And what is really galling is when they see northerners, southerners, easterners, and westerners from all over the world gathering in to sit down at the table with Jesus Christ and hear the air cast out. And they see all these Gentile dogs, who they would not stoop to give the time of day, they are received and welcomed into the eternal kingdom of God. So the first application has to be in this passage, it's a warning to the Jews themselves. Be sure your sins will find you out if you do not repent. If you do not turn and cast away your iniquity. What a terrible, horrible word to hear. I never knew you. Do you know me? Will you ask yourself that question? Do you know me, Lord? Do I know you? Am I in a right relationship with you? Now let me say before we move on here, it is a fact that no one is going to usher into eternity. No one is going to usher into hell and slip away quietly into the eternal darkness without a full knowledge of what could have been. That's what's going to be so hard. I didn't care enough about my soul. I didn't focus my energy upon seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. So in that day, the announcement will result in the most bitter weeping and gnashing at teeth, the bitter bitterness and gnashing of teeth will not be gnashing the teeth at the Almighty, at the Lord Jesus, but gnashing and weeping at your own stupidity, your own foolishness, your own love of the world and love of sin. Weeping because You're now lost. You're cast away. And there's not a thing you can do about it. Second, this word applies not just to the Jews, but to the New Testament crowd who have typically, symbolically eaten and drank in His presence. That is, We have entertained and listened to the teachings of Christ in the church, perhaps in the classroom. We have rubbed shoulders with the people of God. You see, there's an enormous group of people who somehow slip into the church They come into the church. Oh, we have standards to get in the church. That doesn't keep tears from being sewn into the church. You have to go through an education program before we accept you as members. That doesn't, that isn't foolproof. Many people slip into the church. They maintain a profession of faith. Think about the myriads of people, just say the Catholic faith in the Catholic Church, or say the Protestant Church, the Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Congregational Church. Well, let's get down to the Baptist variety. How about belonging to a Baptist church Here's people who can be, we've heard your teaching. We've been exposed to the truth. We knew the doctrines. Here, they had some degree of knowledge. These people lived a nominally decent life. They had some respect for the sacred, but never, listen, this is the key. They had some deep respect for what was sacred, but they never forsook the secular. They never got the love of the world out of their hearts. They did not lose their life. to gain eternal life. They have never repented and they have never entered the door. The Christianity of these type people who will be rejected was an easy sort. No cross, no self-denial, no certainly striving, denying self, pressing to the limit, spending yourself and all of your moral, mental, and soul energy in this matter. These people, as it were, had other things and objectives and priorities. Christ did not become supreme. Lord, Master, Friend, Savior, God, to me, Christ must be your all in all. Here are these people that I think are represented here by the statement, have we not eaten and drank in your presence? Either a decision was made for them Maybe they were baptized as infants, or they made some sort of decision to come into the church. Well, I like the teachings of the church. I'm attracted to good morality. And man, there's some fine people there, and I want to be a part of them. So they've come into the church, but they've not come to Christ. and Christ has not come into their lives. There's been no true conversion, and especially there has not been any striving to die to sin and to put off the works of the flesh. All has happened is that they have added a few of the choicer aspects of church life. Sunday morning Christians, but worldly minded when the last amen is said. Who can pray with the best of them, but who will not pray in private. Who can go out from the communion service and have fellowship with the world. and the flesh and the devil. These people have never renounced sin, never have turned and let go of the worldly love in their hearts. And Jesus refers to all of this crowd as workers of iniquity. That is the real fact that sin dominates their life. And they're under the bondage of sin. They're under slavery of sin. They're under the habit of living in sin. And they never break with sin. They still possess it. And it still possesses them. So to know Jesus only in the flesh, to know Jesus only as an intellectual doctrine, to only take up the external forms of religion, of Christianity, but to never know what it means that if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away, and all things have become new. To never know that, how dreadful it shall be. Oh, friend tonight, how foolish for you to play the role of a hypocrite, for you to be one thing in public and another thing in private. To have a double life, to have your public Christian life and yet have your private secret sins. Oh, how foolish. Not to come out of your life, of your control of your life, of your practice of sin, of letting go of everything you have, everything you are, everything you will be, letting it go to the Lord. and giving him, what is he getting when he gets us anyway? But he's not going to make any half-hearted deals with us. It's either all or nothing. Strive. Pay the cost. Spend yourself at entering in the narrow way. This is not just going to be, well, one out of a million this is going to happen to. Jesus said it's not going to be rare, many in that day. It's going to be very common. But can you think about this? There will be, surely, Brother Don, you don't mean it. I'm afraid so. There will be whole congregations of people rejected. It could be that there will be whole denominations rejected on that day. So I urge you tonight, take heed that your Christianity is more than just a profession of faith, just an outer baptism. Truly let go of your life and surrender everything to Jesus Christ. Do it tonight. Do it now. Don't let me even finish this sermon before you do this. You know, you know who you are. You know the Lord is speaking and dealing with your soul. This has to be a sober word for all interested souls who were interested in being saved and had good intentions of being saved. I'm going to be saved one day. I'm not going to go to hell, but not now, not today. Look at verse 20, 25. Yes, verse 25, when once the master of the house is risen up, I was looking for a door, and has shut the door. There's a door, say the door was open. You could get in when the door was open, but when the master is risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside. You're on the outside. The door is shut. Lord, Lord, open the door again for me just a little while. Lord, Lord, I'm out here. I want in. Let me in. Lord, Lord, I intended to be saved. You know I did. You know I wanted to be saved, oh Lord. But not now. Not today. I've got things to do. I've got a life to live. I'm going to get right with God, but not now, not today. Oh, careless soul, why do you linger? For your life will soon be gone. Oh, how sad to face the judgment unprepared to meet thy God. This word applies to everybody that's putting off this business. Oh, I'm gonna be saved. I'm gonna make things right. I'm not gonna be caught off guard. But guess what? You don't know when the door is shut. Now, the door will be shut in death, of course. But let me tell you this. The Bible teaches this, he that being often reproved and hardens his heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy. Let me tell you, when God speaks to you and deals with you and you hear his voice, it's time to respond. Today, if you hear his voice, harden not your heart. It's time to obey. It's time to do the will of God now. But procrastination runs this risk. God doesn't have to speak to you but one time, maybe twice, perhaps three times. And let me tell you, when the Holy Spirit quits convicting you and dealing with you, you're a dead person for sure. When the Lord quits dealing with you, I talked to a man one time, he said, you know, preacher, when I was young, the Lord was really dealing with me. And I kept putting it off, and I said, I wanted to do this first. I wanted to do that. And he said, you know what happened? He said, the Lord left me, and I've never been bothered about my sins. I've never been bothered about this issue. He said, I wish I could go back to where I was really convicted and felt my need of the Lord. But he said, I just don't feel my need anymore. You know what's happened? The Lord rose up and shut the door. Don't think it can't happen. The Lord can shut the door. He is the one that opens and no man shuts, and shuts and no man opens. Come while you can. Come while there's opportunity. Don't harden your heart. Surrender. Yield. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thought. And let them turn unto the Lord, and he will abundantly pardon. But you've got to get in when the door is open, when the Lord is near. You say, Brother Don, how does that square with real predestination in Calvinism? I don't know, but it's the truth, amen? God can deal with you for a while and then he can leave you forever. Sad deal. Oh, again, let me appeal to you, oh, careless soul, why do you linger? The door is not always going to be open. The door, the master of the door, and the Lord of all opportunity can shut it any time. And when he shuts it, you can open it. That ought to put fear and trembling in us. Ooh, you don't mean it, Brother Don. Jesus said so. Well, there's one final category and I'll be done. And that is this, just a brief and final word. This applies to these, I call them all but one thing. Do you remember what Jesus said to the rich young ruler when he says, what must I do to inherit life? And he said this and this and this, which he didn't understand that he had broken all of the laws of God. And Jesus said, OK, if you've kept the law of God, one thing you lack, one thing you lack. One thing, I'm gonna close with this thought of the one thing type of person, one thing you lack. Years ago, preacher that Jeff referred to that we knew well, Brother Greg was under his ministry for years, Brother Conrad Murrell told me years ago that there were people who came to Bentley that were attracted to his ministry. They had an intellectual grasp of Calvinism. They would join in with the congregation, participate in the songs, and they would take communion. And he said, they'd stay a while. But for some unknown reason, it wouldn't work for them. They just didn't fit in, they could not really fit in and partake of the real spiritual realities. You see, that's what the church is not about the building, the lights, the amenities. The church is about what is going on there in reality, the worship of God around spiritual, eternal realities. And for some reason, these people would come They would join and stay a while, but they could never, they just never did fit in. Now, Jesus knows who these type people are. What do you mean, Brother Don? I mean, people can be good in many ways, but in one way, and many times this one way is something that nobody but you know about. Nobody can see it but you, you know. In one thing, you're still bound up and enslaved to that one thing. You're not free from it. Oh, it is that besetting sin that you will not let go of. Just one thing. Jesus said, as it were, many will strive to enter, try to enter. They attempt to belong to the church. They like church people. They like the preacher. They like the sermons. They have a curious interest in the doctrines of the Lord. They like good people. But still there's one sin that they cling to, one particular sin. It's a priority. It's normally secret, out of public view, but it holds their whole life in bondage and darkness. They try to enter. They try to belong, but they never get this root sin, this agag, the chief Canaanite devil. They never put him to death. They spare agag, the chief sin in their life, and it holds them in bondage, one thing. Just this one thing. Good to your wife, good to your children. You got a good spirit at church. You're a fine fella, but you got one thing that you're holding on to, and it's a damning thing to hold on to any sin. Think that the smallest hole in the bottom of the ship can't sink the largest ship to the bottom one day. You know what Jesus came to do? Not just save us from our sins, forgive us, but to deliver us from any bondage. anything that is dark, ugly, wicked, perverse, wrong, deliver us. If the Son of Man shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. What fresh air it is to be in this business of the church and in this thing of hymn singing and in this thing of praying and listening to the preacher and go out of the building in love with Jesus Christ and free, free from the bondage of sin, that bondage to one thing, Let us lay aside every weight and every sin that death so easily beset us. So the door of salvation is for those who will let go, not just of some bad things, I'm a good person now. I take out the garbage and I scratch my wife's back. I do good. I started tithing. I'm a big giver. But you got this one hang up, this one dark, ugly sin that holds you in bondage. You see, the Lord Jesus says, the gate into heaven is straight, that means it's narrow. It's very narrow. You can get in, but you can't bring anything with you. You got to let go of all the baggage. You got to turn loose of your whole life. And you got to let Jesus Christ Surrender to his absolute lordship and rule over your life. And when you do that, he will free you. He'll not just pardon you, but he'll free you. And that's how your relationship, you've come into relationship and the Lord knows you. He knows you to be one that was serious, that you did take His word of truth serious, and that you did press in, you did strive, you did lose yourself, and all that you had to serve Him, to follow Him, and obey Him. So consider this this evening. Let go of all you have, all that you are, all that you're doing, and surrender everything and let Jesus Christ reign as Lord over the interior, bringing every thought into captivity, into the obedience of Christ. It's a happy place. It's a dreadful thing if you don't. That one thing will damn you. Be sure your sin will find you out. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we know that we have not presented this truth with the reality of the fullness of these fearful things. We've tried, O Lord, to send out a warning of what you so faithfully and mercifully told us was going to happen on that great day. Lord, we know that We know that the door could still be open and there could be those hearts that are yet hearing your voice. Even this very night, they could be hearing your voice saying, come to me, surrender to me, let go of your life, let go of all sin. I pray that it'll happen, oh Lord, In Jesus name, amen. If you're thinking to yourself, I'm afraid I pretended I pretended for years and my wife thinks I'm a Christian. My husband thinks I'm a Christian. My kids think I'm a Christian. My church family thinks I'm a Christian. I'm afraid to be embarrassed to let them know I'm not. Deep down, I know I'm not, but I don't want to be embarrassed. I'll tell you, it'd be more embarrassing on the day of judgment when everyone finds out. Don't be afraid to be embarrassed. This is your soul. There's nothing more vital to know you know God and that he knows you. You can know God tonight. You don't have to come and talk to me or any of the elders or come to Pastor Don Johnson. You can go directly to God. Confess your sins. Turn to him. Surrender. And you shall be saved. Do you not wish that the night's message could be put into every church around America? But you heard it. You heard it. We heard it. Thank the Lord for that. Tomorrow, we continue. Be here at 830. Services will start at nine. We have meal prepared. There'll be cooking. I know the weather looks a little shady, but the Lord is going to take care of us. And we will eat tomorrow and have two services in the morning and have some activities if the weather is permitting. And then we'll have a service again here tomorrow night. Let's close in prayer and we're dismissed. And there's still, I think, cookies and things for you to enjoy. But don't go enjoy your cookies if you need to be right with the Lord. I'll tell you one time, I was under conviction. Sermon something like this. My dad was preaching. After the sermon, I felt convicted. And I said to myself, I'm going to get right with the Lord tonight. And the people began to disperse. That's when the devil comes in to take the seeds that are sown. And I was about ready to get on my knees. And then my friend comes and says, let's go play tag. Let's go play tag, kids. So the other friends will come into you and say, hey, let's go. Let's go play. And I remember not wanting to disappoint my friend. His name was Josh. And I remember making a quick prayer. I'll get back with you, Lord. And I didn't get right that night. Don't allow that to happen. Let's pray. Dear Lord, thank you for the message of mercy tonight. We get to hear this now. Thank you for giving us a good word, a faithful word. We want to take heed. We want to make our calling election sure. We want to make sure we know you. Lord, if there's any hidden sins in our hearts, please reveal those to us. Help us, Lord, all of us, even who do. Those of us that do know we know you and we know that you know us, we don't want sin. So take what we have, Lord. We give you our lives afresh. Purify us, people that are holy, pure, righteous, sweet. Give us a clean heart. Take the sin out of us. Cleanse us this night that we be a holy people before you, pleasing in your sight. Thank you for sending a savior atonement. given us a way out of this dreadful situation that we're in. Thank you for Jesus Christ. To him be honor and glory and majesty. Let his name be lifted up high. It's him we worship, him that we love, him that we bow our lives down to and follow. Sell all that we have and come follow him we do. This we pray in son's name, amen.